BILL NUMBER: ACR 3	CHAPTERED  01/20/99

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   1
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   JANUARY 20, 1999
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   JANUARY 19, 1999
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   JANUARY 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JANUARY 15, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wesson
   (Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Villaraigosa, Vincent,
Washington, and Wright)
   (Principal coauthors: Senators Hughes and Murray)
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Aanestad, Ackerman, Alquist, Aroner,
Ashburn, Bates, Baugh, Briggs, Calderon, Cardenas, Corbett, Correa,
Cox, Cunneen, Davis, Dickerson, Ducheny, Firebaugh, Frusetta,
Granlund, Havice, Hertzberg, Honda, House, Jackson, Keeley, Leach,
Lempert, Leonard, Longville, Lowenthal, Maddox, Maldonado, Margett,
Mazzoni, Migden, Nakano, Oller, Robert Pacheco, Papan, Pescetti,
Reyes, Romero, Scott, Shelley, Soto, Steinberg, Strickland,
Strom-Martin, Thompson, Thomson, Wayne, Wiggins, Wildman, and Zettel)

                        JANUARY 15, 1999

   Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 3--Relative to Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Day.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 3, Wesson.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
   This measure would honor the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.




   WHEREAS, Renowned civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was
born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929; and
   WHEREAS, In 1948, Martin Luther King, Jr. received his bachelor of
arts degree in sociology from Morehouse College, in 1951, he
received his bachelor of divinity degree from Crozer Theological
Seminary, as valedictorian and student body president, and in 1955,
he was awarded a doctorate in systematic theology from Boston
University; and
   WHEREAS, King married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953; and
   WHEREAS, King was ordained pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
in Montgomery Alabama in 1954; and
   WHEREAS, Five days after Rosa Parks' arrest for refusing to comply
with segregation on buses in Montgomery, on December 5, 1955, King
was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association and
the Montgomery Bus Boycott began; and
   WHEREAS, During the boycott, King gained national prominence as an
exceptional leader with extraordinary oratorical skills and personal
courage; and
   WHEREAS, On December 20, 1956, the United States Supreme Court
declared Alabama's segregation laws unconstitutional and Montgomery
buses were desegregated; and
   WHEREAS, In 1957, King and other southern African-American
ministers founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and
elected King as president; and
   WHEREAS, King led the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in
Washington, D.C., and subsequently published his first book, Stride
Toward Freedom:  The Montgomery Story; and
   WHEREAS, In 1959, King toured India, where he learned more about
Gandhian strategies of nonviolence and developed his own theories
about achieving social change through nonviolent resistance; and
   WHEREAS, During mass demonstrations in 1963 organized by Dr. King
and his staff in Birmingham, Alabama, images of brutality inflicted
on African-American demonstrators by police using police dogs and
firehoses shocked the world; and
   WHEREAS, King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on
August 28, 1963, at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom; and

   WHEREAS, Rev. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway
in 1964, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted as a direct
result of Dr. King's work; and
   WHEREAS, In 1965, King led the march from Selma to Montgomery, and
President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act; and
   WHEREAS, On April 4, 1968, while in Memphis assisting striking
sanitation workers, King was assassinated; and
   WHEREAS, Representative John Conyers introduced legislation in
Congress four days later proposing Dr. King's birthday as a holiday;
and
   WHEREAS, On April 10, 1970, California became the first state to
pass legislation making King's birthday a school holiday; and
   WHEREAS, Despite resistance to the creation of a new national
holiday, the diligence and perseverance of Representative John
Conyers and numerous others in pursuing this goal culminated when on
November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation making
King's birthday a national holiday; and
   WHEREAS, January 20, 1986, marked the first observance of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; and
   WHEREAS, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. devoted his life to
fight segregation and injustice by nonviolent means, and is an
outstanding example of courageous leadership in the face of
unrelenting violence and harassment by individuals and government
institutions; and
   WHEREAS, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a source of
inspiration for all Americans; now, therefor be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the California State Legislature honors the
late Rev. Dr.  Martin King, Jr., and commemorates Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day.
